Frogs returning to pond that's no longer there

[pamf]

Hi folks - We used to have 2 ponds in our garden, but recently filled one of them in and expanded the other. Now that the frogs have returned, we note many sitting on the filled-in patch. We now feel very bad about this. Do you know if it's probable that they can find their way to the other, expanded pond? Or should we try to assist them in relocating?

Would be grateful of your thoughts. Thanks.

[Hedge Witch]

I would just pick them up and move them, but I have a tendency to interfere I'm not sure what the correct thing to do is

[agrumpycow]

How far away is the expanded pond?
I would have thought they'd find their own way there eventually (but don't take my word for it )

[pamf]

The expanded pond is about 20 ft apart from the old one, but also about 10ft higher up in the sloping garden.

Thanks
Pam

[svenrufus]

Frogs will be fine - a gap of 20ft is no big deal. A bigger problem for them may be if there is less breeding space for a population that has grown to fill 2 ponds (depending on how much you have expanded the other pond), so you could see a reduction frog numbers, not through immediate frog death, but the competition for food amongst the tadpoles will probably put the population down over time as only one ponds worth of spawn will be able to complete the transition to adult froghood. Possibly, (here I'm speculating), the population may even shrink for a bit if the tadpoles that do make it are weakened by the excess competition, and so not as strong or ready for life as adults as they would otherwise have been. Not sure about that. However, the amount of spawn produced in a pond is way in excess of the frog population that produces it, and tadpoles are designed to be weeded out by competition, so this might not be a very strong or important effect.

Toads are much more pond specific and if you had any of those in the pond that was filled, I'm not sure what they will do. They go back to the pond they were spawned in, but there must be some natural mechanism for them to move on to new ponds otherwise they would never have spread in the first place presumably. I don't know what the effect on them will be.

[pamf]

Thank you for the responses. To svenrufus, the expanded pond is a bit smaller overall, so maybe there will be a slight decline in population - although that pond is very busy at the moment! I've never seen any toads.

I'm hoping the "lost" frogs are just reminiscing down at the site of the old pond. They do tend to get about quite happily and I even found one waiting at our front door the other night.

Thanks again.

[dampflippers]

I'm sure they'll find their way there, but no harm helping them (in case a heron visits).
Make sure the new pond has a shallowish are or sloping edge as they prefer to spawn over dense weed. I personally think it is better for the female who is less likely to be held under water for too long. Drowning is more likely to happen in deep or weedless ponds where she can't crawl herself (an male) up to the surface.

[galanthus]

Frogs can breathe through their skin and some hibernate through the winter underwater so cld a female drown ?